EVALUATION QUESTION 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The technologies that were used in the process of constructing our product are:

Blogger: Before we even started any of the actual work, we first created a Blog and got used to how to use it. All the work that was done throughout the weeks had to be updated on Blogger. As well as typing everything up onto Blogger, we had to learn how to upload images and videos like the audience research and images of other films like ours and our influences. These images can help the examiner know what type of film ours is, without actually watching it. 

YouTube: All the work that we recorded was uploaded onto our YouTube page. Not all us in the group had to upload the work onto YouTube, if one person uploads it and gives it a suitable, easy name, the other people in the group can find it and upload it on to their Blog, for example, the audience research was uploaded on my YouTube page it was given an easy name for Jaffar and Alsid to find, but the final version of our film opening was uploaded on Jaffar's YouTube page. YouTube was also used at the beginning when we were looking at other film opening's to analyse when titles such as the directors name, names of the actors, the main title etc. 

IMDb: This website was very usefully when finding out information about other films from the same director to see if the films are all alike or different. It was also used to find out about different UK distributors to see what distributor would be right for our film and find out what other films that distributor has distributed.

Adobe Premiere Pro: This was the programme used when we were editing. It was easy to use and I learnt all the main features needed to edit clips, easily. When I first started editing the audience research, and finding each clip and putting them together to make them flow and look realistic, I thought it was hard, but then I got used to it, and started enjoying it, and then I was really looking forward to editing and putting together the clips for our final opening sequence. 

Adobe After Effects: This programme was not used in the editing but when we were creating the title and the production logo, it was used to make interesting effects, like the bullet holes on the logo to look like it’s been shot. This also suggested that other films from this movie would mainly be action/war-related films.

EVALUATION QUESTION 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract the target audience we had to first find out what sort of things they would like in a film for them to be willing to pay to watch. We found that the male audience enjoy watching the war-type action films. It makes it more realistic when they have weapons such as guns because majority of the time when there is a fight scene, the fight can look fake, so having guns instead of fight scenes makes it more realistic and creates tension.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?
 

The target audience for our opening sequence would be males, aged between 15-25. I think this is an appropriate age for our film because the violence is to a minimum for the younger audience, but there is some violence for the older audience. It is mainly aimed at males as it is stereotypical for males to enjoy these types of war-related movies; this is why movies such as Mission Impossible and The Dark Knight have become so successful. I think our film can be successful to this target audience because it has most of the conventions for an action/war film and compared it to other action films that have the same conventions, and have become successful. The male audience can relate to our film because males in that age group usually play games consoles and the film would remind them of the game ‘Call of Duty’ which we have tried to do by using the guns, and the chase scenes and the army uniform.  

EVALUATION QUESTION 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

This link explains in detail the role of a media distributor: http://www.skillset.org/film/jobs/distribution/article_4958_1.asp

Here are some points that I have picked out from the article that i think is important:

• A film distiributor is in charge of launching the film in the market
• They must find the largest audience as possible
• They must be strategic and knowledgeable about promotion and publicity
• Independent distributors oversee films in olny their home country
• Distributors associated with Hollywood studios release there film worldwide
• Distributors need to be involved in production in order to know what syle of advertising campaign to use
• Independent distributors are only involved after the films premiere
• The more that is spent during distribution, the more intrested the audience becomes
• What distributors want from the public is publicity by word of mouth
• Market knowledge, experience and judgment for target audience is what a distributor needs when deciding when and where to relase a new film

This is the UK distributor for Saving Private Ryan: http://uk.imdb.com/company/co0074139/
Another film that they have distributed that is similar to our opening sequence is Tropic Thunder

The distributor that I would chose for our film would be Paramount as they are known worldwide and also they have distributed silimar films such as Sving Private Ryan. They are financially stable therefor there would not be any problems with money when it comes to the different types of maketing campaigns. It is consistently ranked as one of the largest movie studios and is the fifth oldest existing film studio in the world so there is a higher possibilty of the film of becoming successful as there other films in the past have been a success.

EVALUATION QUESTION 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The character that influenced us for our character was Tom Hanks from Saving Private Ryan. Both of the characters are comparable as they both have army backgrounds. The character in our opening sequence wears an army costume, as does Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. With the costume they both use guns, and in the screen shot and the picture of Tom Hanks, this is shown to illustrate they are in some sort of war, or are fighting against someone. The body language shown in both of the characters, is them holding the gun and pointing it at someone, this again, reinforces the idea of them in war. Both of the characters’ roles are soldiers.

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We as a group agreed that 'Hidden' is a suitable and  title for our film. It is short and catchy therefor it is easy to remember and will stick in the audience’s mind. The word ‘hidden’ is like an enigma, there are hidden puzzles in the film that need solving. We chose this as the title because when people hear the word ‘hidden’ they become curious about the message behind it. They want questions to be answered such as what has been hidden? Is it a person or a valuable item? Has it been found? Why is it so important?.. This is the effect we wanted to create when the audience hear the name of our film, so they are interested and want to know what happens. Our main inspiration for the title came from the action film ‘Taken’. This was the type of title which creates tension and suspense and wanted that for our title. The title instantly implies the genre is action and creates an image in the mind about a kidnapping or fight scenes.

The location we chose was Hainualt Forest, we thought this would be an appropriate location to film as it is an open area so there is plenty of space for the actors to run. There are also big bushes and large trees, so the actor was able to hide behind the tree trunk to create suspense. This was an ideal location as any ‘war’ films are in forests and have chasing scenes.

The day of the filming, it was a gloomy day and looked like it was about to rain, so when all the filing was done we had to edit the lighting so it went with the genre, but also, so all the clips link together and flow. We tried to use a lot of close up’s and extreme close up’s to express the mood of the film. The extreme close up’s allowed to convey the feeling of intensity of the threat of life. There are also fast motion clips to reinforce the genre.

The costume was a typical war costume, with a gun. This was perfect for the film because having both, the fake gun and the army costume made it look more professional and realistic, whereas, if the actors were wearing casual clothing, it would not have looked realistic and having the costume and props makes it more interesting. Having both of the characters wearing the army uniform suggests maybe they were both in the army and something went wrong as they are now opposing forces.

In the opening sequence, the genre is introduced immdiately through the costume and prop, and setting. This was done to let the audience know of the genre, as we have found in our audience research that majority of them prefer to be established to the genre in the opening sequence otherwise they may find it a bit confusing. The genre was also conveyed through the fast past action and the characters.

OUR FILM

This is the final cut of the our film 'Hidden' which Jaffar has uploaded onto his Youtube channel.

STORYBOARD

This is the digital storyboard that was made using raw footage that we recorded. We had no traditional storyboard and thought that this would be more appropriate as we had already taken some footage.

FINAL EDITING

All three of us were keen to edit and we came up with the idea that when it came to editing all three of us chose to do our own rough cuts because we thought that the more ideas and variety we have then there would be a greater chance of coming out with a good film. In the end, Jaffar's rough cut was chosen to be the best and then we all put in our remaining ideas and knowledge to come out with a high quality film. As it was Jaffar's rough cut he did the main editing and also added colour correction and effects. The group helped out a lot giving tips finding soundtracks and helping sort out the storyline. It was a collective effort and we were all involved in making the film a success.

We used Adobe Premier Pro to edit the film. We previously used this for the preliminary task and audience research and have come to be very confident with it because of its simplicity and ability to function alongside Adobe After Effects. It took a long time to edit and a lot of hours went in to it. Colour correction was needed to make it appear more darker and to make it suit the genre, we also needed to give a high standard finish so we were careful in selecting the best shots and made sure everything was smooth and crisp. We added titles and created fictional names, it was a challenge timing the soundtrack to suit the sequence, but we managed to pull it off in the end and make both the soundtrack and film flow. Overall it was a satisfying process.

FILM INSPIRATIONS

These are some of the films that influenced our opening sequence.

The Hurt Locker, Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, The Bourne Ultimatum









The reason why these films influenced me is because the war films contain a lot of action and emotion and we wanted to achieve the same level of passion that the audience feels when connected with these war films. The Bourne series also inspired me because the series is full of suspense and thrilling moments and I think these aspects heighten the quality of a film and this inspired me to incorporate these moments into our film.

BEHIND THE SCENES

The filming went very smoothly. We were able to get plenty of footage in the locations previously scouted without any trouble. We did however have to inform the park authorities again that we were using fake firearms and get their permission to film in different parts of the park. These are a few behind the scenes pictures.

















We spent 5 hours with the crew filming and ended up with a substantial amount footage to start with the editing. The weather however was not so kind as you can tell from the pictures we had to wrap up warm and have a breaks in between filming and this also affected the lighting.

RISK ASSESSMENTS

We had to take precautionary measures with the props because we were using plastic guns, and we had to ensure that they were not seen by members of the public and that we behaved in a professional manner while filming. Fortunately, we were in a remote location and had also got permission from park authorities to film. The filming procedure went smoothly and we took measures to ensure that the equipment and props were being used safely

LOCATION RECCE

Here we have the location of where we chose to film our opening sequence. We sent the cinematographer to scout different locations and capture images. Weather conditions made it tricky because he had to wait for snow and ice to clear before collecting these pictures. The images were taken around Hainault Forest on the 26th and 27th of February. 


 
                     
                     
One of the issues that we come across was that we had to get permission to film in the are from one of the park authorities, we told him what we were doing, and when we were doing it, and they were fine with it. We made sure not to disrupt anyone walking through and kept quite for visitors.

PRODUCTION LOGO

This is an image of the production logo. Myself and the producer, Jaffar, created this using adobe After Effects. Our opening sequence includes 2 soldiers and the use of guns so we wanted to reflect this in the production logo and so we included the army camo in the background. It also had to be effective and striking so as it plays bullet holes appear one by one in the writing and gunshot sound effects.

It was hard making the logo because you have to time all the effects properly and get all the right textures and images. After Effects also takes a while to learn how to use. We discussed as a group about how it should look and everyone was happy the way it came out because it fits in with the film.

SOUNDTRACK

These are images of the website that we got the main soundtrack from and one of the sound tracks we used. http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=proposition. We were trying to search for a soundtrack that created lots of suspense and envoked adrenaline. As the editor in the group I thought it would be my responsibility to find a soundtrack sutiable for the genre of our film, because it links with editing, so I found this track and we all decided as a group that it was appropriate for the opening sequence.

We have also included another more solemn and emotional piece of music at the start of the film to set the tone and let the audience know that it is a serious film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw3VkhTrK50  It is Black Hawk Down's Theme Song by Hans Zimmer, I cut the clip down and we used a small segment of it.

MOOD BOARD

This is a moodboard that I have created which pretty much sums up the action war genre. There are a lot of guns and explosions in this mood board which usually apeals to male audience and teenagers but it also shows the coming-to-terms with death which is really what these films are about at the core. If it is going to portray death and destrucion in such a graphic way, it needs to be in the right way, and there should be a message behind it, we have incorporated this feature in our opening sequence.

SCHEDULE

SCHEDULE

	9-10am	10-11am	11-12pm	12-1pm	1-2pm	2-3pm	3-4pm
Monday
Tuesday							Class time
Wednesday	Class time	Class time
Thursday
Friday					Class time	Class time
Saturday			Meeting/ discussion	Meeting/ discussion
Sunday				Filming/ editing	Filming/ editing	Filming/ editing	Filming/ editing

Total class time together = 5hrs a week

Meetings/Discussions = 2hrs a week

Filming/Editing = 4hrs a week

Notes: Due to illnesses and other external factors some of the crew may not have been in or could not attend but we tried to keep to schedule as much as possible